Kirsteen Posted September 14, 2012 Share Posted September 14, 2012 I'm on Day 5 of the W30. I've been reading ISWF and Well Fed. I love the idea of cooking a load of stuff and having it ready. My question is 'How long can i safely keep cooked or semi=cooked food in the fridge?' I can't freeze it so if I wet saute or cook veg, hard boil eggs and cook meat, possibly chicken, and ground meat, how long can I keep them and still have them safe to eat? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bridget Posted September 14, 2012 Share Posted September 14, 2012 Hopefully someone will correct me if I am way off here-but I had to take a food safety course a couple years back, and I believe a week is the longest you should keep anything cooked in the fridge. It must be completely cooled before storing (especially important with soups, stews, chicken). Personally, I have found a week works fine with me-I do not think I have ever had to throw anything out in that space of time(I have even used some things that have been there longer w/ out a problem) I normally do a lot of cooking on the weekends, and am finishing those foods up by the following Friday-if the kids don't eat ALL of it. Main tip-"When in doubt, throw it out" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derval Posted September 14, 2012 Share Posted September 14, 2012 Hopefully someone will correct me if I am way off here-but I had to take a food safety course a couple years back, and I believe a week is the longest you should keep anything cooked in the fridge. It must be completely cooled before storing (especially important with soups, stews, chicken). I always thought this but then I read in Well Fed, to put stuff in fridge straight away, that it is when stuff is at room temp that bacteria etc grows... I dunno....goes against what I thought was the correct way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirsteen Posted September 14, 2012 Author Share Posted September 14, 2012 Thanks Bridget. I was brought up parents who were very wary of fridges. Food could be kept 2 days and that was it - out it went. I was wondering how people could cook for the week. Well if everyone else is doing it and not dropping dead of botulism, I guess it's safe enough for me too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirsteen Posted September 14, 2012 Author Share Posted September 14, 2012 Hi Dervla when I worked in catering whilst a student, many moons ago, everything we cooked was put straight into a special chiller to bring the temp down and then moved to the fridge. We were taught that it was safest to chill it right away BUT if you were putting it into a fridge that already had food in it, you were raising the teperature of that food and compromising its safety. So I suppose it would depend if your fridge was completely empty or not. I have a fridge i only keep raw veg in, so I don't suppose it would be compromised by raising the temperature. i might try it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura B Posted September 14, 2012 Share Posted September 14, 2012 It must be completely cooled before storing (especially important with soups, stews, chicken). In Well Fed Melissa recommends letting them cool in the fridge (well for veggies anyway) to prevent bacteria growth. For me it's better to put it in the fridge ASAP or else I'll forget it's sitting on the counter. Food doesn't last all that long in our fridge, so I don't worry about it. Edit: Just saw Derval beat me to it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bridget Posted September 14, 2012 Share Posted September 14, 2012 Stores like Whole Foods use a blast chiller to get temps down really quickly.Most folks don't have those at home . It's the slow cooling in the fridge that causes trouble-when bacteria can grow quickly in a small window of temp/time. If the food is held too long at a certain temperature,bacteria multiply quickly. It can compromise the other things in the fridge as well. I do normally let things go to room temp before I refrigerate them, or put them away uncovered to cool faster. I guess there are different schools of thought. As with everything, I am finding out.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xandra Posted September 18, 2012 Share Posted September 18, 2012 To cool a hot dish quickly, I take the entire container of ice from my freezer, dump it into my plugged kitchen sink, add enough water to make an ice bath, and set the hot pot in there (obviously don't do this with a hot glass dish). Stir the food every so often to redistribute the heat, and it's cool enough to refrigerate very quickly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan W Posted September 18, 2012 Share Posted September 18, 2012 Actually, according to the health inspectors in Oregon (they are tough!!), things like soups and stews should be poured into a shallow pan and then placed directly into the fridge. The shallow pan allows the food to cool quicker and won't allow it to bring the temp of the fridge to the danger zone which is why you shouldn't put a huge amount of hot food directly into it. Veggies alone would cool down fast enough in the fridge (or even a few minutes on the countertop if the house is on the cool side) so it would not have a chance to raise the temp of the fridge. Xandra, that is a great way to do it and very safe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jsunnen Posted September 20, 2012 Share Posted September 20, 2012 I was always taught the 4 day rule but I've extended it during my now Whole33. I batch cook on Sunday and throw things out Sat morning before going to the store if there's anything left. Except my salmon. If there's any left at the end of day 2 I throw it out, but usually make salmon cakes or salmon salad or something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KimSilverton Posted October 16, 2012 Share Posted October 16, 2012 Hmmm ... so if I buy something on Sunday, but don't cook it until Friday, can it last another 4-6 days? Ground beef for example? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan W Posted October 16, 2012 Share Posted October 16, 2012 Hmmm ... so if I buy something on Sunday, but don't cook it until Friday, can it last another 4-6 days? Ground beef for example? I think that's way too long. I like to shop on Thursday or Friday evening and then cook on Sat or Sun. It's best to cook as soon as you can for most things...especially ground beef. I think they suggest 2 days for ground beef. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KimSilverton Posted October 16, 2012 Share Posted October 16, 2012 Just remembered that the ground beef was frozen. Maybe I better cook it, then freeze it. I bought too much this past week - hubby and kid gone this week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan W Posted October 16, 2012 Share Posted October 16, 2012 Just remembered that the ground beef was frozen. Maybe I better cook it, then freeze it. I bought too much this past week - hubby and kid gone this week. Yep...best cook it and freeze it. Ground beef freezes really well. It's nice to have portions in the freezer for different things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrustdc Posted October 16, 2012 Share Posted October 16, 2012 Raw meat is different, but most cooked foods can last a week (or more). I have let hard boiled eggs go longer than a week. Believe me, if a hard boiled egg is off, you won't eat it. But once I started cooking them regularly, I was able to figure out how many to cook for a week so now they don't last longer than that. And they are easy enough that I can do more if for some reason I run out early. I also let my mayo go longer than a week sometimes and it hasn't bothered us yet. If you or anyone in your house has a compromised immune system, you'll want to err on the side of caution, but if not, use your judgment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin Strathdee Posted October 22, 2012 Share Posted October 22, 2012 The rule in my house is (essentially) if it smells and tastes okay, we're gonna eat it. I honestly dont pay much attention to days when it comes to that kind of thing. Most high quality meats will be very obvious if they're spoiled. We havent had food poisoning yet! Well, except for a couple years ago from Wendy's... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhmomi Posted October 22, 2012 Share Posted October 22, 2012 Raw meat is different, but most cooked foods can last a week (or more). I have let hard boiled eggs go longer than a week. Believe me, if a hard boiled egg is off, you won't eat it. But once I started cooking them regularly, I was able to figure out how many to cook for a week so now they don't last longer than that. And they are easy enough that I can do more if for some reason I run out early. I also let my mayo go longer than a week sometimes and it hasn't bothered us yet. If you or anyone in your house has a compromised immune system, you'll want to err on the side of caution, but if not, use your judgment. I have a Nordicware microwave egg boiler. Use it every day. Makes 4 perfect hard boiled eggs in 8 minutes. I love having them fresh every morning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janine Costanzo Posted October 22, 2012 Share Posted October 22, 2012 I don't generally keep track of how long food is in the fridge for. I simply look at it and smell it, and if it seems like it might be bad I throw it out. Otherwise, I eat it. Personally, I've kept hard-boiled eggs in the fridge for over a week without ever having a problem, and my homemade mayo I keep for a month or more (using fresh eggs from the farmer's market, so they're good for a month anyway). Raw meat I only keep in the fridge for at most 2-3 days. Generally, I freeze raw meat as soon as I buy it, and put it in the fridge to defrost the night before I need to cook it. And I'll keep it cooked in the fridge for a week or so--it gets eaten by that time. As for putting hot food in the fridge: my microbiology teacher in college always said to put leftovers in the fridge ASAP so that bacteria doesn't have time to grow on it too quickly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bratdoll Posted November 5, 2012 Share Posted November 5, 2012 So i guess I should throw away the salmon fillets I have that were frozen, then thawing in the fridge (for now, 4 days) LOL! I forgot they were in there ..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan W Posted November 5, 2012 Share Posted November 5, 2012 So i guess I should throw away the salmon fillets I have that were frozen, then thawing in the fridge (for now, 4 days) LOL! I forgot they were in there ..... Smell them. If it took a while for them to thaw, they may be okay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whitjm5 Posted November 6, 2012 Share Posted November 6, 2012 So i guess I should throw away the salmon fillets I have that were frozen, then thawing in the fridge (for now, 4 days) LOL! I forgot they were in there ..... I wouldn't do that just yet. I know frozen meat takes about 3 days to thaw in my fridge. I like slw600's suggestion (as I do with almost all her posts). :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan W Posted November 6, 2012 Share Posted November 6, 2012 I wouldn't do that just yet. I know frozen meat takes about 3 days to thaw in my fridge. I like slw600's suggestion (as I do with almost all her posts). :-) Almost all? ;0) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cholitau Posted November 7, 2012 Share Posted November 7, 2012 Cooking ahead is great help! specially whne you are short in time. I use my slowcooker almost every week and come up with mostly delicious concoctions! (i'm not always that successful! ) but anyway... that food will last a week in my fridge without going bad. I've actually never had food go bad at all. If your food is a going bad you'll know it the moment you heat it up because it will not smell good... so don't worry, that will be the sign! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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